Family’s miniature horse found dead with arrow lodged in chest

LONE ROCK, Wis. (WMTV/Gray News) - The owners of a miniature horse are seeking answers after she was found dead with an arrow lodged in her body.

Wood Weller was the owner of 21-year-old miniature horse Penny. The horse was found dead by a neighbor Wednesday.

Walker lives part time in Illinois and part time in Lone Rock, Wisconsin, where Penny lived.

After his neighbor found the dead horse and called him, Weller said he drove up to Wisconsin Thursday night and went to see Penny’s body Friday morning.

When Weller got close to the partially decayed body, he said he noticed a long, blue, sharp arrow lodged in her chest. The neighbor said he did not initially notice the arrow.

“I saw this kind of diagonal blue line. Then as I looked closer, I realized it was a crossbow bolt,” Weller said. “It just kind of stopped me in my tracks. I was distraught more for what it meant about some person’s bad decision, and a darkness that somebody had to do such a thing.”

Weller said the worst part about the situation was telling his grandchildren that Penny would not be there the next time they visited the “Weller Farm.”

“My heart is broken for my grandchildren that have no possible way to put this into context, and of course we will not tell them that an arrow killed her,” he said.

Weller said Penny was a part of the family and he called the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office to come out and investigate the death on Friday.

The law enforcement agency confirmed with WMTV that they are trying to track down Penny’s killer.

Weller said an officer told him police do not believe this was the result of a hunting accident.

“From what he saw, and the placement of the arrow, he did not conceive it as being an accident,” Weller said. “If it had been an accident, the person would’ve called somebody right away, or called the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office to say, ‘Oh, my God!’’'

There is a $1,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest. They can call the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office dispatch line at 608-356-4895.

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